#argent writes

Royal AU + Awful First Meeting

Royal AUs aren't usually my thing so I'm making this up as I go, just pretend this is how things work lmao

This got a bit out of hand, oops

I can see the two as princes from neighboring kingdoms (we'll just go with your stereotypical fairy tale kingdoms); Emil living the pampered spoiled life as the only son of the king and queen and Lalli, being the nephew of the king and queen, growing up doing everything he can to get out of any royal responsibilities that actually come his way. Lalli is still a prince through the bloodlines, but has less of a spotlight on him as opposed to his cousins who are the son and daughter of the monarchy. For that at least, he's grateful.

If he hangs out with anyone, it's usually Onni, in between the king's son's lessons on running a kingdom, or Tuuri, who has less of an interest in learning all the ins and outs of the kingdom and more in visiting others under the guise of diplomacy (really, she just wants to visit new places and see the world but being a princess doesn't allow her much freedom so she'll have to take what she can get).

Lalli has accompanied her on a few of these journeys as it gets him away from their own kingdom where he's much more easily spotted as the king's nephew. He joins as a royal visitor, but also as protection for his cousin at Onni's insistence.

The latest of such journeys brings them to their neighboring kingdom where prince Emil awaits their visit.

Tuuri and Lalli arrive to Emil's kingdom and are shown their suites and their horses led to the stables. Tuuri translates for him as they speak a different language here, but Lalli wouldn't care what they're saying even if they did speak his language. Tuuri is ready to go meet the young prince as soon as they're settled in their rooms, but Lalli isn't interested. Traveling all day is exhausting and he's in need of a nap. Tuuri rolls her eyes at him but leaves him be, there's time for a more formal meeting in the morning anyways.

Lalli wakes up in the middle of the night with a rumble in his stomach. Prowling around an unfamiliar castle is exactly the kind of thing that Tuuri would warn him against doing, but she's asleep, so he creeps out of his room anyways. The castle halls are dimly lit with lanterns mounted to the walls, but there's enough puddles of darkness to slip through without being too visible.

It takes him a little bit, but eventually Lalli makes it to the castle kitchens. He tries rummaging through the ice boxes first, but he doesn't recognize anything supposedly edible. He shuts the door and finds a door that leads to a pantry instead. He looks through shelves and drawers of more unfamiliar foods, nothing catching his eye until he spots a large round pot with a lid sitting on a shelf above him, just within his reach.

He reaches up and grabs the sides of the pot, gently starting to bring it down when he hears someone shout from nearby in a language he doesn't know. The loud noise makes Lalli flinch hard. His grip on the pot slips, the handles falling through his grasp where it crashes to the floor with an ear splitting shatter. Bits of broken pottery and cookies litter the floor at his feet. Lalli's hands go to his ears and his eyes slam shut, but he can still hear the footsteps racing towards him and the loud voice getting closer. There's too much noise.

Warm hands grab at his arm and Lalli flinches again, wriggling free of their grasp and pushing them away, backing himself into the shelves. Opening his eyes, he's faced with a young man around his age. He's a bit shorter than Lalli and he has blonde hair that, even in the middle of the night, looks perfectly styled. The boy's bright blue eyes glare into him and Lalli pauses, his heart beating fast. The boy doesn't try to grab at Lalli again, but he says something else in his weird language, his tone frustrated. Lalli just stares back at him. He looks into Lalli's eyes for a moment before a small spark of emotion crosses his face and the frustration morphs into something less angry.

The blond boy steps back and Lalli seizes the opportunity, slipping past the other boy and out the door of the pantry. The boy calls out again behind him, but Lalli's already out the door of the kitchen. He's less careful hurrying down the halls this time but his good sense of direction gets him back to his room. He closes the door behind him quietly, the lock clicking into place echoing in the large room. Lalli releases a heavy breath.

He grabs the blanket off the bed and drops to the floor, pushing it under the bed before crawling under after it. He makes himself comfortable in the small space, ignoring his still empty stomach. He'll just have to wait for morning.

(Later the next day, Lalli stands in front of that same blonde boy again, who Tuuri explains is the prince of the kingdom they're in, prince Emil. Lalli looks him in the eye, waiting for his reaction. Emil meets his gaze and despite the tightening of his gaze as they exchange greetings, there's just a hint of color in his cheeks. Odd.

Even more odd is the small parcel of cookies left outside his doorstep later in the day.)

***

I hope you liked it! Royal AUs aren't really in my wheelhouse but I gave it a shot lol